


"I love you"

by TheQueenInTheNorth



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, F/M, except its actually 6+1 bc i have no chill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 16:33:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15513942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheQueenInTheNorth/pseuds/TheQueenInTheNorth
Summary: six times kasius says "i love you" and one time sinara says it first // prompt fill





	"I love you"

“You have a fan waiting in the atrium,”Azale announced with a grin, not bothering to knock as she barged into the dressing room.

“A fan?” Sinara gave her a quizzical look through the mirror, continuing to wipe the blood, sweat, and grime off her face.

They had people coming in now and then, trying to recruit fighters to their personal guard or as mercenaries, but those were hardly people she’d describe as fans. The fighting pits were something of an attraction, to be sure, but on the rare occasions soldiers got leave to participate, a higher rank was sent with them to supervise. A thinly veiled way of saying they’d better not try to get an offer of private work.

Azale shrugged.“That’s what Ukena said, anyway. I’m just s’posed to tell you to hurry up.”

Sinara scowled, but did as she was bid. If Commandant Ukena wanted her to speak to whoever it was, they must be important.

She didn’t manage to catch Ukena on the way to get a heads up on who was waiting for her. There was only a few dozen people she thought would get special treatment from the commandant, though, so there wasn’t too many possibilities. His attire narrowed those down even more. There had been rumours the princes would be in attendance. The sigil on his chest proved them true.

“There you are,”he said jovially, as she was still busy taking note of every insignia he wore. The younger brother, then. Kasius. He was talking all the while, and she must have missed a key part somewhere, because the next thing he said was,“I love you.”

“Excuse me?”she said, taking a step back. She wondered just how deep in his cups he was, and just how long Ukena expected her to entertain his nonsense.

“My brother was awfully certain you wouldn’t win,”he replied, as if that explained anything at all.“Certain enough to bet his favourite cruiser. I plan to wreck the thing, and since you’re the reason I can do so, I wanted to invite you along.”

She almost grinned at that. There was something charmingly petty to his sheer glee at the prospect.

“Well?”he prompted when she hesitated.

“Can I fly it?”she asked in lieu of an answer.

He considered that.“Sure. Are you a good pilot?”

This time, she couldn’t keep herself from smiling.“No particularly.”

“All the better,”he said, smiling brightly. He offered her his arm.“Shall we?”

* * *

Kasius was not one for boundaries, always a little too into her space, hands on her arm when speaking, sitting so close his shoulder bumped hers, leaning close to whisper some joke into her ear. She’d gotten use to it faster than she would have thought.

It was still rare for her to be the one to reach out.

Therefore it was hardly surprising that he trailed off when she took his hand. His gaze was somewhere between harried and hopeful when he fixed his eyes on her.

“It’s going to be alright,”she said. An empty platitude, really, but all she had to offer him right now. There was no knowing what punishment awaited them for desertion. Should the real circumstances somehow get out, they’d be lucky to be simply executed.

Somehow, her words still managed to get a small smile from him, or maybe it was her hand on his that did the trick. He intertwined their fingers.“You don’t really think that. But thank you for saying it.”

“You’re wrong.” She couldn’t have said where the sudden certainty came from but it felt true. Her thoughts were no longer racing the way they had been since she’d murdered his generals.“We’re going to be fine, even if I have to kill our way out of the city.”

Kasius laughed - a little shakily, perhaps, but entirely genuine. He leaned closer, resting his head against hers.“I love you, Sinara.”

She had no response to that, her heart stumbling over a beat. She’d never know how he could throw those words around so casually.

* * *

 

“There’s not enough fear. Not enough distrust.” Kasius was pacing and rambling, rambling and pacing. “We kill those with the lowest earnings. They blame each other for their debt, they try to scam others out of their units. But it’s not enough-”

“So make them do it,”Sinara suggested. Kasius did not like being interrupted, but she did have a certain leeway with him. And this had been going on for entirely too long, her patience with his monologuing running thin.

He fell silent mid-sentence, stepping into her personal space. She was long past the urge of stepping back any time he did it.“Say that again.”

“Make them do it,”she repeated. It was a terribly obvious solution, she thought, the way he always went on about having to pit the humans against each other.“If they owe too much money, they owe us a life. Theirs or someone else’s, it makes no matter.”

“They owe a life.” He said it as if the words left a pleasant taste in his mouth.“That’s good. Genius, really. So simple, yet so elegant. I love it.” He smiled, bringing his hands up to her cheeks. “It’s perfect, Sinara. I love you.”

Then he kissed her, fleetingly, hardly more than a peck, but enough to make her brain cease all activity for a full three seconds. Kasius was already continuing to talk as if that was something perfectly normal to do.

“A life spent, a life earned. A new chance until we have to cull their numbers again.” He smiled at her brightly, somehow oblivious to her state of shock.“I think we’ll call it a Renewal. What do you think of that?”

All she managed was a nod, fingers slowly raising to press against her lips.

* * *

 

Sinara stepped from the bathroom to find Kasius had made no progress while she was in the shower.“Still nothing to wear?”

He’d already been brooding over his clothes when she had woken up, and Kasius was usually never awake before her.

“Basha is ruthless,”he complained. He’d been fretting about her arrival for days now.“I won’t have her make a mockery of me again.”

Sinara barely remembered what their last dispute had been about. Wine selection, she thought, or something equally trivial.“I could always just kill her, if you want.”

He paused his search to smile at her.“I know. And you know I love you for suggesting it, but she has influence in all the right places. She may be our way out of exile one of these days.”

“Right.” She wasn’t entirely sure she even wanted them to be allowed to leave the Lighthouse. Lines that oughtn’t be crossed had been crossed, and she thought that things might be more complicated back on Hala. However things were supposed to become more complicated when your boss was also your best friend was also your (rather more than) occasional fling. And with the way he tossed around the word love... well, he meant nothing by it.

She picked a random garment, to distract herself more than anything.“What’s wrong with this one?”

* * *

 

“Can I tell you something?” His words weren’t exactly slurred, but Sinara could tell that it cost him more of an effort than it should.

“Is it that you drank too much?”she asked, steering him towards his bed.“Because I’m aware of that.”

“That’s not it.” He sat down heavily.“Can’t you take this seriously?”

She decided to humour him.“Take what seriously, exactly?”

“I love you,”Kasius said.

She really ought to see a medic, she thought, the way her heart clenched at that. Clearly there was something wrong with her. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.“So you have said before.”

“You don’t understand,”insisted Kasius, taking her hand.“I love you.”

Sinara wetted her lips nervously. He seemed to expect an answer by the way he was looking at her, eyes shining with some emotion she could not put a name to. He’d likely not remember any of this in the morning. There would be no harm in saying it back. Yet the words didn’t want to come out. She’d really thought she’d unlearned being nervous. Apparently not.

“Well, we’re friends,”she finally managed. He looked confused, then saddened.Obviously not the response he’d been hoping for. She cleared her throat, not quite meeting Kasius’ eyes.“Yeah, I lo-”

“No,”he interrupted.“As more.”

She stared at him, dumbfounded. Her hand was still in his. She pulled it away slowly.“You need to get some sleep.”

* * *

 

The sweat had long cooled on her skin, but her heart was still beating out a frantic rhythm.

She had spent weeks telling herself his words had meant nothing, that it had been the alcohol talking. And he hadn’t brought the matter up again, either.

But now he’d said it again, and there was no ambiguity to just how he’d meant it. Not with his breath so hot against her skin, not when she could barely tell where she ended and he begun.

She’d kissed him rather than answering, overwhelmed with just how much she had wanted to echo those words.

He was asleep, now, but for her any rest was elusive. She simply lay there, listening to his heart beat and willing her own to align with the calm cadence.

When she couldn’t take it any longer, she buried her face against his chest and whispered,“I love you, too.”

It felt right. It felt like home.

* * *

 

“Everything we’ve ever wanted,”he said. 

But the way he was looking at her was already more than she’d ever dreamed.

There was no doubting how he felt, and she was past doubting her own feelings, too. It was time he got the same peace of mind.

“I love you,”she said.

She’d thought there’d been a look of ecstasy on his face before, but somehow, his features managed to light up even more at her words.

He kissed her, slow and soft and sweet. When they moved apart, neither could stop smiling.

“I love you, too,”Kasius said.


End file.
